The swag hunt is on, but finding it is a lot harder than President Barack Obama may have thought.

Obama signed an executive order Wednesday to promote cut costs and Section 7, titled “extraneous promotional items,” states that “agencies should limit the promotional items (such as plaques, clothing and commemorative items), in particular where they are not cost-effective.”

The White House called it swag.

So where are the mugs, T-shirts, plaques and the like being handed out at taxpayers’ expense?

POLITICO contacted more than a dozen executive agencies and most said they are swag-free. In fact, the spokespeople for some agencies were not even aware of the executive order that was signed on Wednesday.

“We don’t have that kind of swag if that’s what you’re talking about,” said Vanee’ Vines, a spokeswoman at the National Security Agency. “I have on my desk a pen, a pen that says NSA. But a pen isn’t swag. That’s my opinion.”

Ben Sherman, a spokesman at the National Ocean Service, said the NOS has some “informational pamphlets,” but no swag.

“I haven’t seen any … I don’t know of any promotional items,” said Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman at the Education Department. “We don’t have that here, and I’ve been here for a number of years.”

Victoria Hutter, a spokeswoman at the National Endowment for the Arts, said the NEA has many types of publications and free research reports, but no promotional items.

“Our budget is small and we have to use it as intelligently and purposefully as possible,” she added.

The Peace Corps was one of the few organizations that had a whiff of swag. Stephen Chapman, the public affairs specialist for the mid-Atlantic regional recruiting office, said they give out pens, highlighters and key chains at recruiting events, including career fairs on school campuses.

“I thought that there was some type of rule that nothing could [cost] over a dollar,” said Chapman. “We want something that can be useful and … that people will actually use, than things people would toss in the garbage.”

A staffer at the press office at the Department of Defense said while their office “doesn’t do any promotional items,” recruiting offices of the Air Force, Navy and other branches of the military were likely to have swag used for recruiting purposes.

At the Voice of America, an intern told POLITICO that the VOA has calendars and brochures, as well as T-shirts reserved for international guests. A spokesperson later confirmed this, adding, “We are careful about what we have and to whom we give them (i.e., T-shirts to regular visitors, key chains to higher level guests).”

At the Voice of America, an intern told POLITICO that the VOA has calendars and brochures, as well as T-shirts reserved for international guests. A spokesperson later confirmed this, adding, “We are careful about what we have and to whom we give them (i.e., T-shirts to regular visitors, key chains to higher level guests).”

Asked to clarify what kind of swag items the executive order is directed at and how much of it there is, since calls to various agencies resulted in not much swag, the White House said the order “directs agencies to submit plans to OMB within the next 45 days to identify cost-cutting measures in several areas, including swag.”

“Whether it’s a paperweight, stress ball, or coffee mug that is purchased with taxpayer dollars, these items have existed for many years and the EO intends to stop them,” Sandra Abrevaya, an associate communications director at the White House told POLITICO.

POLITICO was unable to find any agencies that have paperweights, stress balls or coffee mugs.

Even the OMB, where agencies must submit their cost-cutting plans in the next few weeks, could not offer POLITICO specific examples of swag that their office gives out. An OMB spokeswoman, Moira Mack, offered “T-shirts, water bottles, etc.” as examples, but noted that they are “purchased by employees, not taxpayer funded” – in other words, not relevant to the executive order.

“But we will be taking a hard look for any other extraneous spending in each of the areas laid out in the directive to ensure Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being spent effectively,” she said.

The administration says the order is expected to result in roughly $4 billion in savings by slashing swag and cutting spending in a number of other areas, including travel and conferences, cell phones for federal employees, printing costs and the executive fleet.

Leslie Paige, the vice president for policy and communications at Citizens Against Government Waste, suggested this week that tracking down swag-related data would not be an easy feat.

“They should tell us where they are all located — link us to the actual budget item where these are buried,” she told POLITICO. “You will not find that all of the agencies account for this stuff in the same way.”

Timothy Andrews, the CEO of the Advertising Specialty Institute — a marketing company that represents 23,000 resellers of promotional products — said he applauds the president’s efforts to cut costs, but argued that cutting promotional items is not the most prudent way to rein in spending.

“Promotional items are quite cost effective. They give a very good return on the investment. So if an agency or a business is trying to promote a certain idea, promotional items are a cost effective way of making that happen,” Andrews said.